Casual day - Thursday, Feb.19th

Really not a whole lot to talk about tonight. It was a lazy day. Got up late, cooked cheese omelets for lunch, and did some laundry. I started making soup for the dinner tonight. At about 1:00 we Skype with Ben and Aunt Cathy before he heads for school. Ben is not quite awake, but we still get caught up with what has been going on. After that Roger played some games on the computer and I read a while until it was time to leave for the orphanage at 3:30.

When we arrive at the orphanage, as usual Elona’s face beams and she runs up and gives us hugs. Then we head for the office to get keys to a room where they ‘isolate’ us from the other children. The new rule. This is such a shame. It is our understanding that there were no adoptions from this orphanage until only a couple years ago. We are adopting Elona because Pam and Len met her while they were adopting Angella. Pam and Len adopted Angella because another family met her while they were adopting and so on and so on. If we can’t get to know any of the children while we are here, how can we become their advocate?

We ask Elona about school today. She tells us it is closed because so many children are sick. But she is not sick (we pray she stays that way with so much travel and stress ahead). Elona and all the other children at the orphanage attend public school. It is located next door; it is the picture on the left. The picture on the right is the entrance into the orphanage. There is an old filthy tee shirt on the ground to wipe your feet on. The entrance and hallways are night and day from the clean cheery dorm that Elona lives in. Bilka, the house dog, is usually sleeping in the stairwell or coming in when we are leaving. He is filthy also, but we have seen him doing his job keeping other stray dogs off of the compound.

We play Concentration with a deck of cards. Elona is impressed with how well we shuffle the cards and is trying to learn. After a bit we get out the English Russian picture book and practice some English. I am confident that she will do well at learning the language. Six o’clock comes around quickly and it time to go. Sad faces and hugs, and we head for the bus.

Back at the apartment we caught up with Robbin on Skype. We talk about the upcoming travel plans, which we hope to be able to start nailing down tomorrow night. I finish making the soup, I am using the left over roasted chicken, veggies, and a soup spice packet we bought in the market. It turns out great. I am going to buy a bunch of the packets to bring home.

Once I sent this off, Roger and I will watch some more Sopranos. Then tomorrow we will start again all over again. Galya is going with us to the orphanage tomorrow, so we can converse with Elona a little more. She will also ask if we can bring Elona back to our apartment during the day Saturday and Sunday.

Till tomorrow.
Kelley and Roger